NEW SONG & DANCE HIT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20046, 19 September 1939, Page 11

NEW SONG & DANCE HIT

Boomps-a~Daisy as Popular as Tipperary

The marching song of the British troops in France, “Boomps-a-Daisy,” which, according to a cable message, has been annexed by the French, and seems likely to become the “Tipperary” of the present campaign, is a waltz tune which was almost as popular as the Lambeth Walk in England a month or two ago. The words run:— Hands, knees, and BOOMPS-A-DAISY! I like a bustle that bends. Hands, knees, and BOOMPS-A-DAISY! What is a BOOMP between friends? Hands, knees, Oh don’t be lazy, Let’s make the party a wow. Now, then, hands, knees and BOOMPS-A-DAISY, Turn to your partner and bow. BOW-WOW! “Boomps-a-Daisy” was made up by a British song writer, Annette Mills, who donned a gown with a bustle and, with a partner, began demonstrating the dance. It was featured in London dance halls and at provincial iceskating carnivals, and then was pre-

sented by the band leader Jack Hylton in a revue at the Palladium Theatre. In July the song was launched in the United States on a television programme.

In the new dance the third bar oi the piece comes at a stage when tiie gentleman makes a quarter-turn to the left, and “bumps" his right hip decorously against the lady’s left hip. In order to facilitate this delicate operation the lady makes a quarterturn to the right; and it is at the moment of impact that both dancers shout “boomps.” Considerable hilarity is caused by this dance; indeed it is reputed to be even more than was occasioned by “The Lambeth Walk" upon its inception. It is typically a “catchy” tune. Like the Lambeth Walk, it is sweeping England and, reset to marching time, is sending its cheering message over the soil of France as British Tommies swing along the highways, shoulder to shoulder with the poilus of France. Here is the music and dance action of “Boomps-a-Daisy.”